Good book to read

[Superwuwu]

Does anyone know of a good book to read. I spent a majority of my time at work just sitting. I would prefer a book with insight into the life and/or work of physicians but any good book will do.

thanks

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[DrMom]

there are a number of reading lists/recommended books threads around here. you might want to go ahead & do a search

 

[shanequin]

The Da Vinci Code hands down. I'm not really into thriller type books, I usally stick to Tom Robbins and the like, but this is definetly a book that everybody should make an exception for. The plot is pretty good, your basic murder mystery, but the historical content is what makes this book impossible to put down. Get it from the library 'cause its only out in hardcover.

Shane

 

[DrMom]

Originally posted by shanequin
The Da Vinci Code hands down. I'm not really into thriller type books, I usally stick to Tom Robbins and the like, but this is definetly a book that everybody should make an exception for. The plot is pretty good, your basic murder mystery, but the historical content is what makes this book impossible to put down. Get it from the library 'cause its only out in hardcover.

Shane

There also is a book that is almost a prequel of Da Vinic Code, called Angels and Demons.

Both of them are pretty good reads.

 

[shanequin]

Yeah, my mom is reading that one right now. The historical content is still there, but she says its basically the same plot, but different names. But if you can get past that, she says its really good too.

Shane

 

[mrcool]

Complications is a good book with insight on several different factors of being a physician. iread it before my interviews some time to pump me up. it has ethics, good doctors gone bad, and just interesting stories. i forgot the authors name right now, but im sure you can find it.

 

[BioMedResearch]

My recent recommended reads:

DaVinci Code (Must read)
Angels and Demons
Deception Point
Middlesex (AWESOME!!!)
Secret Life of Bees
Life of Pi (AWESOME!!!)
Bringing Down the House (Fast good read)
Wicked (Cute about Wizard of Oz)

Any questions let me know.

 

[bobbo]

Some good books

about Drs.

The House of God - Hilarious, bitter, cynical look at being a doctor

Complications - excellent book about how imperfect medicine and doctors are

Intern Blues - classic, written by a couple of interns during PGY-1


other great books

Life of Pi - boy and a tiger on a lifeboat, best book I've read in a long time

Middlesex - great book about the adolescence of a hermaphrodite, Detroit, and a family of greek immigrants.

Everything is Illuminated - Jewish kid goes back to Ukraine to trace the history of his family during the holocaust. Narrated in part by his Russian guide in a very humorous broken English.

Blindness - a epidemic of a contagious blindness sweeps through a city and society falls apart. I think it won the Noble prize in literature a couple years ago

I liked the Da Vinci Code also, but I was a lot more interested in the whole history, secretive, symbolic stuff and felt that the contrived action was just in the way of the stuff I wanted to read about.

 

[bobbo]

Great minds think alike biomed. Got distracted before I was able to post my recommendations...I swear I wasn't copying

Bringing Down the House was such an awesome book (makes you want to give up the whole med school thing and go to vegas)

If you like gambling and poker, I also definitely recommend Positively Fifth Street

 

[Bad Mojo]

Originally posted by bobbo
Great minds think alike biomed. Got distracted before I was able to post my recommendations...I swear I wasn't copying

Bringing Down the House was such an awesome book (makes you want to give up the whole med school thing and go to vegas)

If you like gambling and poker, I also definitely recommend Positively Fifth Street

Isn't positively fifth street an early Bob Dylan song?

 

[trudub]

I am reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson right now. So far it is a great book and very, very interesting. I would recommend it. Anyone else read it?

 

[BioMedResearch]

Now please don't hate me but i didn't like the House of God.

I mean it was great to learn about GOMERs and learn that GOMERs go to ground. but beyond that... not a fan, overhyped!

Comlications looks great but I want to finish virgin suicides first.

 

[quideam]

"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand is AMAZING. And it'll get your mind off medicine for a while...

 

[pekq]

I'd recommend "The Alchemist" if you are looking for a short reading. Very good book, kind of like a fairy tale.

I'd also second the Da Vinci code for the symbolisms in it.

 

[CrazyCarl]

Here's a relatively new book about one doctor's facinating story - Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. Truly inspiring look at a brilliant physician who has done some amazing public health work, mostly in Haiti but also Peru, Russia, and elsewhere. It will no doubt change the way you look at medicine.

 

[bobbo]

Originally posted by quideam
"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand is AMAZING. And it'll get your mind off medicine for a while...

You're definitely a gunner, aren't you....

I'm glad I read that book, but it made me so angry the whole time. The whole diehard independant, selfish, egomaniacal, refusal to compromise ideal she sets is such BS. She manufactures these situations where those values work for the better, makes the antagonist a failure and than tries to say that obviously her philosophy is right because Roark was eventually success and Keating ended up with nothing. I mean come on, how can you say that you should only care about yourself and not others and thats the best thing for society. Its definitely not the way us future drs should think.

Yeah, in case you haven't realized I'm a bit of a liberal....

And yeah, everyone should read this book, if only to disagree with it

 

[CalBeE]

I'm reading "Bloodline of the Holy Grail" by Laurence Gardner. I heard that some of it was used in Da Vinci code.

It's a controversial book that basically implied that Jesus was not the son of God, but a normal human being. The book also said that Jesus didn't die (nor resurrect), but instead married Mary Magdelene and had kids. The descendents of Jesus supposedly still exist today.

 

[quideam]

Originally posted by bobbo
You're definitely a gunner, aren't you....

I'm glad I read that book, but it made me so angry the whole time. The whole diehard independant, selfish, egomaniacal, refusal to compromise ideal she sets is such BS. She manufactures these situations where those values work for the better, makes the antagonist a failure and than tries to say that obviously her philosophy is right because Roark was eventually success and Keating ended up with nothing. I mean come on, how can you say that you should only care about yourself and not others and thats the best thing for society. Its definitely not the way us future drs should think.

Yeah, in case you haven't realized I'm a bit of a liberal....

And yeah, everyone should read this book, if only to disagree with it

I'd like to think i'm not a gunner... what does liking Rand's philosophy have to do with that?

I comppletely agree with your analysis of the book... the situations ARE manufactured, and frankly, the emphasis on individuality above all else is a bit disgusting. However, I think the book is beautiful specifically because of that - almost everything else that's out there focuses on doing things for the betterment of society, etc., and the 'selfish' person is somehow shown to be wrong. Rand doesn't exactly justify selfishness as much as she shows how sticking to your own values can be more meaningful than just chiming in with what you're "supposed" to do. I also like Roark's romance... definetely the most unique relationship I've ever read about.

And yes, everyone SHOULD read this book... and btw, doesn't being a liberal mean being open to new ideas? Or does it mean conforming with societal ideals that are alredy in place and have been exhausted in literature?

 

[camstah]

not a book about medicine, but it reminds me of premeds for some reason...i'm not sure why.....but

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

another good one that i read is "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond...for those of you going to ucla med, he's there.....

but then, one of my favorite books is.....
"A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin....

One that's sort of different is "Einstein's Dreams"....cool book...

 

[Bad Mojo]

Originally posted by bobbo
You're definitely a gunner, aren't you....

I read the book as well as Atlas Shrugged. I'd never thought about it in terms of a gunner but I definitely see what you mean. Her emphasis of the success/independence of the individual seems in line with the common 'gunner' image. Either way, it's a good read.

 

[quideam]

Originally posted by Bad Mojo
I read the book as well as Atlas Shrugged. I'd never thought about it in terms of a gunner but I definitely see what you mean. Her emphasis of the success/independence of the individual seems in line with the common 'gunner' image. Either way, it's a good read.

I don't think the book (or the philosophy) has anything to do with success, at least not the way we typically define it (power, money, prestige, etc). That's actually the point of the book - that those things aren't important; that it's the individual self that's important, and that once we lose that to the common societal goals, we lose the entire point of having that society: to allow individual greatness to move everything else forward. I don't think that Rand believes that everyone should do whatever they please... in fact, I think it's pretty explicit that only the "brilliant" ones should do this. Roark was brilliant, and that's why he succeded. If anything, Keating was the gunner...

 

[bobbo]

Focusing only on oneself without regard to others as well as having a huge ego seems like a gunner-ish way to be....no offense was intended...

And I agree, one of her main points was that dedication to one's principles is an admirable quality. And while I thought many of her ideas were interesting, I just didn't agree with them all that much.

As for political ideology, being liberal means being open to other ideas as long as they happen to be liberal ideas. Same goes for conservatives. A person projects their values on everything they see or read, and then will either agree or disagree based on what they previously thought. Do you think a liberal ever read Ann Coulter's book and suddenly became conservative or a conservative ever read an Al Fraken book and changed their mind?

 

[quideam]

Originally posted by bobbo
\Do you think a liberal ever read Ann Coulter's book and suddenly became conservative or a conservative ever read an Al Fraken book and changed their mind?

Granted. And perhaps that's my problem with having pre-set idealogies, although I suppose that it's inevitable. In any case, no offense taken